What makes you say that? Not saying I disagree, but it seems as if the coaches are content with Quintin Demps and Shiloh Keo as the primary backups to Glover Quin and Danieal Manning.

When you start finding some solid talent at the backup spots, something has gotta give. I'd suspect Sherrick McManis is gone, and I am praying that Alan Ball is also on his way out...after those two, if you were to cut a DB, I'd say that Nolan would be the odd man out._________________

What makes you say that? Not saying I disagree, but it seems as if the coaches are content with Quintin Demps and Shiloh Keo as the primary backups to Glover Quin and Danieal Manning.

When you start finding some solid talent at the backup spots, something has gotta give. I'd suspect Sherrick McManis is gone, and I am praying that Alan Ball is also on his way out...after those two, if you were to cut a DB, I'd say that Nolan would be the odd man out.

I'd think Keo would go before Nolan, if not for any other reason than the fact that Pleasant and Keo are the same player and Pleasant offers more upside._________________

What makes you say that? Not saying I disagree, but it seems as if the coaches are content with Quintin Demps and Shiloh Keo as the primary backups to Glover Quin and Danieal Manning.

When you start finding some solid talent at the backup spots, something has gotta give. I'd suspect Sherrick McManis is gone, and I am praying that Alan Ball is also on his way out...after those two, if you were to cut a DB, I'd say that Nolan would be the odd man out.

I'd think Keo would go before Nolan, if not for any other reason than the fact that Pleasant and Keo are the same player and Pleasant offers more upside.

...and there's a name I forgot about, Eddie Pleasant. Torri Williams as well.

There are a lot of names in the DBs, and only a few of em are slated to make the team..._________________

What makes you say that? Not saying I disagree, but it seems as if the coaches are content with Quintin Demps and Shiloh Keo as the primary backups to Glover Quin and Danieal Manning.

When you start finding some solid talent at the backup spots, something has gotta give. I'd suspect Sherrick McManis is gone, and I am praying that Alan Ball is also on his way out...after those two, if you were to cut a DB, I'd say that Nolan would be the odd man out.

Except Quintin Demps and Shiloh Keo are not the primary backups. The Texans primary subpackage is to play dime wherein McCain comes in as the nickel corner and Nolan comes in as a deep safety, while Quin and to a lesser extent Manning could be lined up any place depending on how the offense lines up(usually Quin is lined up as a pseudo linebacker in position to cover the Tight End, but he could be split if the opposing team goes 4 or more wide). This by the way, is exactly what happened last game against San Francisco. 7:46 in the first quarter, 3rd-5 for the 49ers, the exact personnel I described are in the game with Nolan being the deepest Safety. This was also the personnel on the next third down play of that same drive. And on the 3-4 at 1:30 of the 1st quarter. And on the next third down play and the next two after that. You get the idea.

Quintin Demps didn't come in until a 1st down play at about 8:15 of the 2nd quarter in the base defense. On that play, Troy Nolan was out there as the deepest Safety and Demps played a role that would correspond to Quin's(this was the play where Demps jumped a route and came near an INT). Same personnel on the very next play too, with Demps playing near the box and Nolan deep. Shiloh Keo didn't come in until 8:06 of the 2nd where he was actually lined up like a Linebacker(which is something Quin does often as I said), with Nolan deep and Demps also out there.

So it's merely a misconception on your part that Nolan isn't the primary backup. Not only is he the primary backup, Troy Nolan is an important part of the defense, a key subpackage player, the rangiest Safety on the team, and a good player by the way. He's not unlike Kenny Philips of the Giants in terms of role, it's just he's not an everydown starter because of how good Manning and Quin are(and because both players have corner experience which means the base Texans defense can go pure man against 4 receiver sets if they wish).

kenney wrote:

I'd think Keo would go before Nolan, if not for any other reason than the fact that Pleasant and Keo are the same player and Pleasant offers more upside.

I expect Pleasant will be stashed on the practice squad._________________Stop slobbering over Brian Dawkins

What makes you say that? Not saying I disagree, but it seems as if the coaches are content with Quintin Demps and Shiloh Keo as the primary backups to Glover Quin and Danieal Manning.

When you start finding some solid talent at the backup spots, something has gotta give. I'd suspect Sherrick McManis is gone, and I am praying that Alan Ball is also on his way out...after those two, if you were to cut a DB, I'd say that Nolan would be the odd man out.

Except Quintin Demps and Shiloh Keo are not the primary backups. The Texans primary subpackage is to play dime wherein McCain comes in as the nickel corner and Nolan comes in as a deep safety, while Quin and to a lesser extent Manning could be lined up any place depending on how the offense lines up(usually Quin is lined up as a pseudo linebacker in position to cover the Tight End, but he could be split if the opposing team goes 4 or more wide). This by the way, is exactly what happened last game against San Francisco. 7:46 in the first quarter, 3rd-5 for the 49ers, the exact personnel I described are in the game with Nolan being the deepest Safety. This was also the personnel on the next third down play of that same drive. And on the 3-4 at 1:30 of the 1st quarter. And on the next third down play and the next two after that. You get the idea.

Quintin Demps didn't come in until a 1st down play at about 8:15 of the 2nd quarter in the base defense. On that play, Troy Nolan was out there as the deepest Safety and Demps played a role that would correspond to Quin's(this was the play where Demps jumped a route and came near an INT). Same personnel on the very next play too, with Demps playing near the box and Nolan deep. Shiloh Keo didn't come in until 8:06 of the 2nd where he was actually lined up like a Linebacker(which is something Quin does often as I said), with Nolan deep and Demps also out there.

So it's merely a misconception on your part that Nolan isn't the primary backup. Not only is he the primary backup, Troy Nolan is an important part of the defense, a key subpackage player, the rangiest Safety on the team, and a good player by the way. He's not unlike Kenny Philips of the Giants in terms of role, it's just he's not an everydown starter because of how good Manning and Quin are(and because both players have corner experience which means the base Texans defense can go pure man against 4 receiver sets if they wish).

kenney wrote:

I'd think Keo would go before Nolan, if not for any other reason than the fact that Pleasant and Keo are the same player and Pleasant offers more upside.

I expect Pleasant will be stashed on the practice squad.

It's a bit of a stretch to surmise depth chart from preseason rotations as coaches routinely switch things up to see 2's against 1's, 3's against 2's and unique CB/S pairings such as Demps/Harris, Nolan/McManus etc. Your assessment of Nolan is correct if we look at the first half of 2011 and he started in place of Daniel Manning. However, later in the season after several poor games from Nolan, Demps clearly leapfrogged him as the first safety off the bench and McCain played more nickle instead of moving Quin up. Nolan did not register a stat beyond week 13 and I don't recall any injury issues, so I think he was just relegated to the perch McCain had in the bench doghouse in 2010. It is especially noteworthy that Demps was on the field the majority of snaps in both playoff games as well during which McManus and Keo even played, but Nolan remained a ghost.

Nolan has been an enigma in my book. He generated 4 turnovers in 2010 with 3 picks and a fumble recovery, but developed Glover Quin hands last year in generating nothing. He had a nice int/strip against the Panthers in preseason, but he also has gotten beaten badly on a few plays. The book on him is that he is a tad slow which is a problem when Kareem Jackson is already out there waiting to get torched deep and McCain being a liability outside due to his height. I like the way Troy goes about his business as a tough, hard worker, but I think Vance and/or Wade view his speed as a liability. I do think he brings way more than Keo who has never shown me anything as a safety, just a decent special teams overachiever. Pleasant is practice squad at best. Ball is a hot mess. Torri Williams has potential but needs to do something dramatic in the next two weeks to knock a draft pick off the roster._________________

It's a bit of a stretch to surmise depth chart from preseason rotations as coaches routinely switch things up to see 2's against 1's, 3's against 2's and unique CB/S pairings such as Demps/Harris, Nolan/McManus etc. Your assessment of Nolan is correct if we look at the first half of 2011 and he started in place of Daniel Manning. However, later in the season after several poor games from Nolan, Demps clearly leapfrogged him as the first safety off the bench and McCain played more nickle instead of moving Quin up. Nolan did not register a stat beyond week 13 and I don't recall any injury issues, so I think he was just relegated to the perch McCain had in the bench doghouse in 2010. It is especially noteworthy that Demps was on the field the majority of snaps in both playoff games as well during which McManus and Keo even played, but Nolan remained a ghost.

Nolan has been an enigma in my book. He generated 4 turnovers in 2010 with 3 picks and a fumble recovery, but developed Glover Quin hands last year in generating nothing. He had a nice int/strip against the Panthers in preseason, but he also has gotten beaten badly on a few plays. The book on him is that he is a tad slow which is a problem when Kareem Jackson is already out there waiting to get torched deep and McCain being a liability outside due to his height. I like the way Troy goes about his business as a tough, hard worker, but I think Vance and/or Wade view his speed as a liability. I do think he brings way more than Keo who has never shown me anything as a safety, just a decent special teams overachiever. Pleasant is practice squad at best. Ball is a hot mess. Torri Williams has potential but needs to do something dramatic in the next two weeks to knock a draft pick off the roster.

The Texans didn't play a lot of nickel last season. They primarily played dime and that's why all season long you saw Cushing as the only Linebacker out there in the standard sub-packages. A lot of people took it to mean DeMeco Ryans must not be very good when in reality the Texans were just going smaller. Their primary subpackage had McCain at the nickel and Quin as a pseudo Linebacker/DB essentially. I'm pretty sure McCain even played over 50% of snaps on the defense last year.

Nolan had an ankle injury last season against the Bengals and that's why he dropped out of the general rotation. Like if you don't believe me, he didn't practice before his first inactive, the Colts game( http://blog.houstontexans.com/2011/12/20/texans-colts-tuesday-injury-report/ ). The main reason Demps started playing more last year was first the injury to Manning(notice Demps was inactive until week 8, Manning's first inactive) and then the injury to Nolan. In between that time the coaching staff also worked Demps into the rotation here and there because he had played well(particularly against the Falcons where he was matched one on one against Tony Gonzalez), because remember Wade Phillips does a lot of different things in the secondary anyway and I recall quite a few plays last year with 4 Safeties on the field anyway(one instance being against the Bengals I remember)._________________Stop slobbering over Brian Dawkins

It's a bit of a stretch to surmise depth chart from preseason rotations as coaches routinely switch things up to see 2's against 1's, 3's against 2's and unique CB/S pairings such as Demps/Harris, Nolan/McManus etc. Your assessment of Nolan is correct if we look at the first half of 2011 and he started in place of Daniel Manning. However, later in the season after several poor games from Nolan, Demps clearly leapfrogged him as the first safety off the bench and McCain played more nickle instead of moving Quin up. Nolan did not register a stat beyond week 13 and I don't recall any injury issues, so I think he was just relegated to the perch McCain had in the bench doghouse in 2010. It is especially noteworthy that Demps was on the field the majority of snaps in both playoff games as well during which McManus and Keo even played, but Nolan remained a ghost.

Nolan has been an enigma in my book. He generated 4 turnovers in 2010 with 3 picks and a fumble recovery, but developed Glover Quin hands last year in generating nothing. He had a nice int/strip against the Panthers in preseason, but he also has gotten beaten badly on a few plays. The book on him is that he is a tad slow which is a problem when Kareem Jackson is already out there waiting to get torched deep and McCain being a liability outside due to his height. I like the way Troy goes about his business as a tough, hard worker, but I think Vance and/or Wade view his speed as a liability. I do think he brings way more than Keo who has never shown me anything as a safety, just a decent special teams overachiever. Pleasant is practice squad at best. Ball is a hot mess. Torri Williams has potential but needs to do something dramatic in the next two weeks to knock a draft pick off the roster.

The Texans didn't play a lot of nickel last season. They primarily played dime and that's why all season long you saw Cushing as the only Linebacker out there in the standard sub-packages. A lot of people took it to mean DeMeco Ryans must not be very good when in reality the Texans were just going smaller. Their primary subpackage had McCain at the nickel and Quin as a pseudo Linebacker/DB essentially. I'm pretty sure McCain even played over 50% of snaps on the defense last year.

Nolan had an ankle injury last season against the Bengals and that's why he dropped out of the general rotation. Like if you don't believe me, he didn't practice before his first inactive, the Colts game( http://blog.houstontexans.com/2011/12/20/texans-colts-tuesday-injury-report/ ). The main reason Demps started playing more last year was first the injury to Manning(notice Demps was inactive until week 8, Manning's first inactive) and then the injury to Nolan. In between that time the coaching staff also worked Demps into the rotation here and there because he had played well(particularly against the Falcons where he was matched one on one against Tony Gonzalez), because remember Wade Phillips does a lot of different things in the secondary anyway and I recall quite a few plays last year with 4 Safeties on the field anyway(one instance being against the Bengals I remember).

You give off an inordinate amount of info. I can't process all of it. However the reports are interesting and provacative and I appreciate them. Your reports are good. Keep them coming.

It's a bit of a stretch to surmise depth chart from preseason rotations as coaches routinely switch things up to see 2's against 1's, 3's against 2's and unique CB/S pairings such as Demps/Harris, Nolan/McManus etc. Your assessment of Nolan is correct if we look at the first half of 2011 and he started in place of Daniel Manning. However, later in the season after several poor games from Nolan, Demps clearly leapfrogged him as the first safety off the bench and McCain played more nickle instead of moving Quin up. Nolan did not register a stat beyond week 13 and I don't recall any injury issues, so I think he was just relegated to the perch McCain had in the bench doghouse in 2010. It is especially noteworthy that Demps was on the field the majority of snaps in both playoff games as well during which McManus and Keo even played, but Nolan remained a ghost.

Nolan has been an enigma in my book. He generated 4 turnovers in 2010 with 3 picks and a fumble recovery, but developed Glover Quin hands last year in generating nothing. He had a nice int/strip against the Panthers in preseason, but he also has gotten beaten badly on a few plays. The book on him is that he is a tad slow which is a problem when Kareem Jackson is already out there waiting to get torched deep and McCain being a liability outside due to his height. I like the way Troy goes about his business as a tough, hard worker, but I think Vance and/or Wade view his speed as a liability. I do think he brings way more than Keo who has never shown me anything as a safety, just a decent special teams overachiever. Pleasant is practice squad at best. Ball is a hot mess. Torri Williams has potential but needs to do something dramatic in the next two weeks to knock a draft pick off the roster.

The Texans didn't play a lot of nickel last season. They primarily played dime and that's why all season long you saw Cushing as the only Linebacker out there in the standard sub-packages. A lot of people took it to mean DeMeco Ryans must not be very good when in reality the Texans were just going smaller. Their primary subpackage had McCain at the nickel and Quin as a pseudo Linebacker/DB essentially. I'm pretty sure McCain even played over 50% of snaps on the defense last year.

Nolan had an ankle injury last season against the Bengals and that's why he dropped out of the general rotation. Like if you don't believe me, he didn't practice before his first inactive, the Colts game( http://blog.houstontexans.com/2011/12/20/texans-colts-tuesday-injury-report/ ). The main reason Demps started playing more last year was first the injury to Manning(notice Demps was inactive until week 8, Manning's first inactive) and then the injury to Nolan. In between that time the coaching staff also worked Demps into the rotation here and there because he had played well(particularly against the Falcons where he was matched one on one against Tony Gonzalez), because remember Wade Phillips does a lot of different things in the secondary anyway and I recall quite a few plays last year with 4 Safeties on the field anyway(one instance being against the Bengals I remember).

You give off an inordinate amount of info. I can't process all of it. However the reports are interesting and provacative and I appreciate them. Your reports are good. Keep them coming.

We'll know soon enough I guess. Nolan's ankle injury may have been the impetus for him getting in there ahead of Nolan, but once he did, Nolan never got back off the bench and you can't explain away week 13 thru 2 playoff games with a minor injury. Oftentimes "ankle injury" can be coach code for "ankle weights" as Nolan is just plain slow and seeing Demps out there likely made it even more evident. Demps was playing with the 1's yet again this week, while Nolan filtered in with the 2's and I actually think Keo is pushing him as well. I think Nolan falls into that 10% of the bottom of the roster that you want to churn especially with him, Quin, McCain and others as free agents next year. Speaking of which, is it just me or has Quin looked awful this preseason? I have come to expect it from McCain, but Quin has had several lapses thus far and got total pwned by Graham._________________

It's a bit of a stretch to surmise depth chart from preseason rotations as coaches routinely switch things up to see 2's against 1's, 3's against 2's and unique CB/S pairings such as Demps/Harris, Nolan/McManus etc. Your assessment of Nolan is correct if we look at the first half of 2011 and he started in place of Daniel Manning. However, later in the season after several poor games from Nolan, Demps clearly leapfrogged him as the first safety off the bench and McCain played more nickle instead of moving Quin up. Nolan did not register a stat beyond week 13 and I don't recall any injury issues, so I think he was just relegated to the perch McCain had in the bench doghouse in 2010. It is especially noteworthy that Demps was on the field the majority of snaps in both playoff games as well during which McManus and Keo even played, but Nolan remained a ghost.

Nolan has been an enigma in my book. He generated 4 turnovers in 2010 with 3 picks and a fumble recovery, but developed Glover Quin hands last year in generating nothing. He had a nice int/strip against the Panthers in preseason, but he also has gotten beaten badly on a few plays. The book on him is that he is a tad slow which is a problem when Kareem Jackson is already out there waiting to get torched deep and McCain being a liability outside due to his height. I like the way Troy goes about his business as a tough, hard worker, but I think Vance and/or Wade view his speed as a liability. I do think he brings way more than Keo who has never shown me anything as a safety, just a decent special teams overachiever. Pleasant is practice squad at best. Ball is a hot mess. Torri Williams has potential but needs to do something dramatic in the next two weeks to knock a draft pick off the roster.

The Texans didn't play a lot of nickel last season. They primarily played dime and that's why all season long you saw Cushing as the only Linebacker out there in the standard sub-packages. A lot of people took it to mean DeMeco Ryans must not be very good when in reality the Texans were just going smaller. Their primary subpackage had McCain at the nickel and Quin as a pseudo Linebacker/DB essentially. I'm pretty sure McCain even played over 50% of snaps on the defense last year.

Nolan had an ankle injury last season against the Bengals and that's why he dropped out of the general rotation. Like if you don't believe me, he didn't practice before his first inactive, the Colts game( http://blog.houstontexans.com/2011/12/20/texans-colts-tuesday-injury-report/ ). The main reason Demps started playing more last year was first the injury to Manning(notice Demps was inactive until week 8, Manning's first inactive) and then the injury to Nolan. In between that time the coaching staff also worked Demps into the rotation here and there because he had played well(particularly against the Falcons where he was matched one on one against Tony Gonzalez), because remember Wade Phillips does a lot of different things in the secondary anyway and I recall quite a few plays last year with 4 Safeties on the field anyway(one instance being against the Bengals I remember).

You give off an inordinate amount of info. I can't process all of it. However the reports are interesting and provacative and I appreciate them. Your reports are good. Keep them coming.

We'll know soon enough I guess. Nolan's ankle injury may have been the impetus for him getting in there ahead of Nolan, but once he did, Nolan never got back off the bench and you can't explain away week 13 thru 2 playoff games with a minor injury. Oftentimes "ankle injury" can be coach code for "ankle weights" as Nolan is just plain slow and seeing Demps out there likely made it even more evident. Demps was playing with the 1's yet again this week, while Nolan filtered in with the 2's and I actually think Keo is pushing him as well. I think Nolan falls into that 10% of the bottom of the roster that you want to churn especially with him, Quin, McCain and others as free agents next year. Speaking of which, is it just me or has Quin looked awful this preseason? I have come to expect it from McCain, but Quin has had several lapses thus far and got total pwned by Graham.

I have seen Quin look bad at various times throughout his 3 years as a Texan. He will make a nice tackle on a running back, break up a pass, support the front 7 against the run. But then he will be in a zone coverage or on a man assignment and he lets a guy just run right past him. He lets guys fly by him and make big plays. He never "breaks" on the ball when its in the air, he is either waiting to make the tackle after the catch or trying to break up the pass. He flashes good and bad._________________

It's a bit of a stretch to surmise depth chart from preseason rotations as coaches routinely switch things up to see 2's against 1's, 3's against 2's and unique CB/S pairings such as Demps/Harris, Nolan/McManus etc. Your assessment of Nolan is correct if we look at the first half of 2011 and he started in place of Daniel Manning. However, later in the season after several poor games from Nolan, Demps clearly leapfrogged him as the first safety off the bench and McCain played more nickle instead of moving Quin up. Nolan did not register a stat beyond week 13 and I don't recall any injury issues, so I think he was just relegated to the perch McCain had in the bench doghouse in 2010. It is especially noteworthy that Demps was on the field the majority of snaps in both playoff games as well during which McManus and Keo even played, but Nolan remained a ghost.

Nolan has been an enigma in my book. He generated 4 turnovers in 2010 with 3 picks and a fumble recovery, but developed Glover Quin hands last year in generating nothing. He had a nice int/strip against the Panthers in preseason, but he also has gotten beaten badly on a few plays. The book on him is that he is a tad slow which is a problem when Kareem Jackson is already out there waiting to get torched deep and McCain being a liability outside due to his height. I like the way Troy goes about his business as a tough, hard worker, but I think Vance and/or Wade view his speed as a liability. I do think he brings way more than Keo who has never shown me anything as a safety, just a decent special teams overachiever. Pleasant is practice squad at best. Ball is a hot mess. Torri Williams has potential but needs to do something dramatic in the next two weeks to knock a draft pick off the roster.

The Texans didn't play a lot of nickel last season. They primarily played dime and that's why all season long you saw Cushing as the only Linebacker out there in the standard sub-packages. A lot of people took it to mean DeMeco Ryans must not be very good when in reality the Texans were just going smaller. Their primary subpackage had McCain at the nickel and Quin as a pseudo Linebacker/DB essentially. I'm pretty sure McCain even played over 50% of snaps on the defense last year.

Nolan had an ankle injury last season against the Bengals and that's why he dropped out of the general rotation. Like if you don't believe me, he didn't practice before his first inactive, the Colts game( http://blog.houstontexans.com/2011/12/20/texans-colts-tuesday-injury-report/ ). The main reason Demps started playing more last year was first the injury to Manning(notice Demps was inactive until week 8, Manning's first inactive) and then the injury to Nolan. In between that time the coaching staff also worked Demps into the rotation here and there because he had played well(particularly against the Falcons where he was matched one on one against Tony Gonzalez), because remember Wade Phillips does a lot of different things in the secondary anyway and I recall quite a few plays last year with 4 Safeties on the field anyway(one instance being against the Bengals I remember).

You give off an inordinate amount of info. I can't process all of it. However the reports are interesting and provacative and I appreciate them. Your reports are good. Keep them coming.

We'll know soon enough I guess. Nolan's ankle injury may have been the impetus for him getting in there ahead of Nolan, but once he did, Nolan never got back off the bench and you can't explain away week 13 thru 2 playoff games with a minor injury. Oftentimes "ankle injury" can be coach code for "ankle weights" as Nolan is just plain slow and seeing Demps out there likely made it even more evident. Demps was playing with the 1's yet again this week, while Nolan filtered in with the 2's and I actually think Keo is pushing him as well. I think Nolan falls into that 10% of the bottom of the roster that you want to churn especially with him, Quin, McCain and others as free agents next year. Speaking of which, is it just me or has Quin looked awful this preseason? I have come to expect it from McCain, but Quin has had several lapses thus far and got total pwned by Graham.

Yeah, I win. Not only was Demps clearly ahead of Nolan, but so was Keo. Fully expect Pleasant on the Practice Squad as well. I do wish Quin could grab a bit of Nolan's occasional nose for the ball on his way out the door._________________

Can a Texans fan give me an opinnion on Antoine Caldwell? What are the odds you resign him?

Most of us speculated that the team likely plans to let both Antoine Caldwell and Rashad Butler walk this offseason, as there will be several key free agents that will draw the team's focus. The high spot at which the team picked Brandon Brooks and the fact that Newton beat Butler out for the position seems to indicate two things: that the offensive line is undergoing a youth movement and that the team is making an effort to move toward more powerful linemen.

Caldwell is an average to below-average guard at this point in his career who has struggled with nagging injuries. He is wildly inconsistent and can go game-to-game from abysmal to stellar. He's probably best-served as a swing guard. He's certainly talented, but he's been a disappointment to this point in his career._________________